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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670074">Cracks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyBenson/pseuds/AmyBenson'>AmyBenson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Gen, Missing Scene, Not Beta Read, post 7X10, with a sliver of hope</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:22:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670074</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyBenson/pseuds/AmyBenson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Jiaying's death and before the Quinjet returns, Daisy, May, Sousa process the defeat.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Melinda May &amp; Skye | Daisy Johnson, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa (mentioned)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cracks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I didn't expect to be this heartbroken by Jiaying's death.</p><p>English isn't my first language, so I can't vouch for my grammar and punctuation.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Sousa</b>
</p><p>He can hear Daisy sobbing. She sits on the floor, little shape left to her, her hands so gentle on her mother’s dead body, as if she’s afraid to hurt her. He takes a shaky breath and moves towards them, but May is there first, on the floor by her side, trained arm around her shoulders, so he goes to fetch some water.</p><p>It’s not his place to hold her.<br/>
It’s not even his time.</p><p>The woman they pledged to protect is dead, and the world is finally, finally crumbling around him. It’s almost a relief.</p><p>There’s a bathroom on the way, and he stops at the sink for a moment to splash cold water onto his face. The man looking at him from the mirror is lost, helpless. He tries to harden his expression, but the resulting coldness is even more off-putting.</p><p>He used to have hope. These very people gave him hope.</p><p>When he’s back, Daisy has stopped sobbing. She takes the bottle without looking at him. Agent May whispers something to her, and Daisy nods and walks away.</p><p>“Sousa! Can you watch Daisy for a minute while I sort this out? Give her space. She can handle it, just…” May trails off, and he’s worried that she is more concerned than she lets on.</p><p>“Of course”, he answers, voice suddenly hoarse.</p><p>He finds Daisy in the control room. She is eerily quiet now. His heart aches at the sight of her, crouched on the chair, but he won’t approach. It’s not his place.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>May</b>
</p><p>Daisy’s pain is unbearable. They’re drowning in pain, and rage, and guilt, but May won’t let go, not until Daisy pulls out of her embrace and slowly stands up.</p><p>“I’ll take care of her,” she says, trying to catch Daisy’s eye. Daisy nods weakly, and it’s her trust that almost crushes May in the end.</p><p>Sousa’s face is blank for the first time since she’s known him.<br/>
She sends him after Daisy, just in case, and waits for her head to clear. </p><p>Jiaying was one of the most cunning enemies she’s ever faced, and maybe, if she still had her feelings, she’d hate her for all the pain she’d caused her. Yet something’s been telling May to be in her corner. SHIELD failed this woman, time and again, in the future and in the past. And now all that’s left of her is a broken body on the cold floor, a violated sanctuary, and two hurting daughters craving for a fight.</p><p>She finds a gurney and takes Jiaying to the base morgue in the upper levels of the Lighthouse. She has no idea who she’s leaving her there for. There is no future anymore, nothing beyond here and now.</p><p>Her head hurts, but better head than heart.</p><p>Back when she gave Jiaying her watch, she thought for a moment that maybe there was an out, maybe, if they kept rewriting time, some of it would stick.</p><p>Daisy’s still here, right? Will they get to keep her, like they kept Deke, another time anomaly she can’t quite comprehend? She fights the urge to run back to the control room, to make sure the girl is still there, to commit her features to memory, because god knows how much time they have left.</p><p>Then there’s Kora.<br/>
She can’t even begin to unravel the whole thing rationally, let alone emotionally, this tightly bound knot of her, and Daisy, and Jiaying, and Kora, and Katya.</p><p>She finds herself holding Jiaying’s hand. “Drink me,” flashes through her mind. “Is that a death wish?” she thinks curiously. Less than an hour ago the woman radiated warmth, wariness and worry, and her palm is so cold already.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Quake</b>
</p><p>She is aware of Sousa’s presence, him lingering on the other side of the room, just far enough so that she doesn’t have to tell him to go away, but she doesn’t look at him. The smiling, the flirting, her little experiment in the loop - all seem so distant now, distant and wrong. Two realities don’t fit together, the colours are off, the angles all wrong, and when she tries to keep them both in her head, she loses balance, feeling dizzy and sick.</p><p>The very idea of his touch makes her want to vomit. The sound of her mother’s neck snapping echoing in her memory makes her want to vomit.</p><p>She’s spent years trying to convince herself that she didn’t miss her psycho mother. She pushed the ocean away, and now it came back, mightier and saltier, waves crashing over her.</p><p>She starts to scratch at her hands, then stops herself. Only then does she register that she, somehow, still exists. Her bones ache, and she knows she’ll see bruises if she rolls up her sleeves. She’s gonna need her gauntlets.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>May returns with a pack of elastic bandages.</p><p>“Thought you might need these after that quake.” She throws the pack to Daisy, and Daisy catches it and winces.</p><p>May pulls up two chairs and nods for Sousa to join them. Daisy shrugs off her jacket to reveal bruises beginning to bloom.</p><p>They start bandaging.</p>
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